penalty enforcement -line to gain

[Ed Hickland]

Originally posted by pinchmaster
Hi friends, newbie here.I have a question about enforcing penalty when penalty is past line to gain. 2ND and 10 ,run play,handoff to A1 ,gains 40 yds. Flag is thrown for holding near the end of run. Flag is spot of foul,mark back ten yards,ball is still 25 yards beyond l to g .Is it a first down even on a penalty? (high school)What about a block behind the back in same situation.The more I read my book the more confused I get.

Back to the beginning.

5-2-5b
. . . Following a foul, a series of downs ends when:

b. Acceptance or declination of any penalty leaves A in possession beyond the line-to- gain.

When a live ball foul occurs you consider the enforcement spot and penalize from that spot. If the ball ends up beyond the line to gain you can award a first down. If not, it is a replay of the down, that is, if the foul does not allow a replay.

If a foul occurs that is enforced as a dead ball, that would include a USC foul, it would be enforced from the succeeding spot not the spot where the foul occurred.

That is why it is important to distinguish personal fouls from USCs. A player striking a player is a personal foul not a USC. The enforcement spot would be different.

For those who remember Halloween Night in Georgia last year the confusion there was a live ball foul was committed during a run. But the officiating crew enforced it from the succeeding spot like an unsportsmanlike conduct.